Began the day with a long run in glorious early-morning sunshine. I noticed that the leaves on the chestnuts were already beginning to turn, indicating autumn is not too far away. The chestnut is the first to leaf in spring, so another summer fades away. Into the House, with plenty of constituency work to be getting on with. I held a meeting with my neighbour Chris Loder to talk through a planning matter that has arisen at Dorset County Hospital. It's time sensitive and we agreed to do all we could to help. Having submitted a question for PMQs, and not being selected, I watched the weekly session on TV in my office. It got quite irritable at one stage when the PM mentioned the IRA. The Speaker then intervened, asking the PM to stick to the question. These exchanges are always pithy and sometimes acrimonious and does not in any way represent what goes on in Parliament on a daily basis. Again, I submitted a question for the UQ that followed on migrants crossing the Channel, but was not selected. These lists are extremely frustrating for Backbenchers because normally we'd be in the Chamber, leaping up and down in an attempt to attract the Speaker's eye. Back to the office until 1645 when I entered CR14 to listen to the PM address our 1922 Committee. This meeting is supposedly confidential and it angers me that some of my colleagues are only too happy to talk to the waiting press straight afterwards. About what? It's meant to all be in confidence! Meanwhile, off stage, Chancellor Rishi Sunak reassured recently elected Tory MPs that there would not be a "horror show of tax rises with no end in sight", as the government dealt with the costs of coronavirus. He urged the 2019 intake to show trust to overcome the "short-term challenges" the Party faces. I was delighted to hear about this as I have written to the Chancellor on this very topic, urging him not to raise taxes, but cut expenditure. Scrap all these quangos for starters and revisit the overseas aid budget. In education news, England's exams' regulator, Ofqual, said it was a "fundamental mistake" to think the public would accept an emergency grading system instead of exam results. Chairman Roger Taylor said Ofqual advised ministers to hold socially distanced exams, or delay them. If these two options were unworkable, then calculated grades could be used, he said Ofqual had reported. Mr Taylor said Education Secretary Gavin Williamson cancelled exams without further reference to Ofqual. Worryingly, more than 400 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats - a record for a single day. Border Force has intercepted 409 people, including young children, onboard 27 boats, with several other vessels still being dealt with. Some of the migrants were carrying children too young to walk. This issue must be tackled. They are leaving a safe country - France - to come here, when they should never leave France in the first place. And, finally, the BBC reversed its decision not to have Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory sung at The Last Night of the Proms. Sanity has returned, at least in the short term!